My Turn: Opposing the ArtSpace project

According to The Gazette Aug. 5, “Artspace would provide about 80 percent of the expected $10 million construction cost.” According to the Creative Loafing newspaper in Charlotte, state and federal tax credits would mostly fund the $11 million project. An earlier Gazette article mentioned the figure of $15 million. Which is it?

Depending on which dollar amount you choose, the cost of each unit in the proposed 40-unit complex would range anywhere from $250,000-$375,000 each! According to Trulia.com, a real estate value estimating site, the 2014 median sale price for a home in Gastonia is $127,000. That’s less than half of what a proposed ArtSpace unit will cost. How in good conscience can you ask taxpayers, living in an average $127,000 home, to foot the bill for an artist to live in a condo costing an average of $300,000?

Again, citing The Gazette, “…supporters say this is a golden opportunity for bolstering the arts community downtown without relying on tax dollars.” The assertion that there are no local tax dollars involved is a flat out distortion of the truth! The monies that will be used to finance the majority of the intended project come from their source in a federal agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

I want to remind you that our taxes fund the government. There might not be a line-item in the city’s budget, but these are indeed local tax dollars, recycled back to us in the form of grant money! This project then, by definition, is subsidized housing ~ any way you look at it ~ paid for by U.S. taxpayers.

The specified intent and parameters of this HUD grant money are for the creation of low income housing for “poor artists” and the like. Current North Carolina law restricts the application of HUD funds in this manner. So, on Oct. 10, 2012, in order to bypass this restriction, and facilitate ArtSpace, Mayor John Bridgeman, on behalf of the City of Gastonia, submitted a letter to the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, wherein he requested that the state restrictions be lifted, in order to enable the city to access these HUD funds for the intended ArtSpace project. He in essence was asking for an exception to the law.

Again, citing The Gazette, it has been claimed that the revitalization of downtown Gastonia will be realized when “…for-profit development is attracted to the energy and creativity associated with a thriving art community.” This is pure pie-in-the-sky! We’ve had a subsidized art community in downtown Gastonia for many years, with no appreciable increase in “for-profit” enterprises. In fact, there has been a steady trail of departures! This current effort truly represents Einstein’s definition of insanity ~ doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.

According to The Gazette, Artspace will further seek tax credits from the state, if the project is approved by the council. These so-called credits are in fact legal tender, which may be sold to other project developers, thus resulting in additional financial gains for the holders (more of our tax money going to the so-called “non-profits.”)

Page 2 of 2 - And what about those cities that are currently being asked by ArtSpace to forgive and forget their property taxes, because they are not enjoying the financial windfalls that ArtSpace forecasted? (Memphis, TN; Santa Cruz, CA; Hamilton, OH) Can Gastonia expect the same thing to happen here?

Point of fact: there are already 1,650 federally-subsidized housing units in Gastonia. Why do we need 40 more, at a cost of over $10 million?

Finally, it’s our understanding that city assets (like the parking lot valued at $207,000) are to be sold by the City of Gastonia by way of a formal bid process, with an upset bid procedure that follows, thereby ensuring that top dollar is realized in the sale. We understand that the city plans to circumvent this process, allowing the unfettered sale of the property to ArtSpace, by making the upset bid process so restricted in parameters that no one else will be able to bid on it.

The people of Gastonia have a right to know just how things are done in City Hall.